


Five Times One Took a Breath, and One Time He Didn’t

by CaiaCaecilia



Category: Dark Matter (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-08
Updated: 2016-05-08
Packaged: 2018-06-07 05:45:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6788098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaiaCaecilia/pseuds/CaiaCaecilia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All in the title.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five Times One Took a Breath, and One Time He Didn’t

Title – Five Times One Took a Breath, and One Time He Didn’t

Author – Caia Caecilia

Rating – PG

Pairing – One/Three – pre-slash

Disclaimer : All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Five Times One Took a Breath, and One Time He Didn’t

Part 1 – Something Nice and Limber

The sound of his and Three’s feet hitting the wet pavement, and his own breathing, harsh in his ears, straining, because shit they’d been running for ages through the dark streets of the city, filled One’s senses, but if he listened hard enough he could still hear the shouts of their pursuers. Those shouts seemed to be getting ever closer. As he tried to pick up his pace and ignore his aching legs One fixed his eyes on Three’s back and tried to bore two neat holes in it just with the strength of his gaze. 

Why had he been so stupid as to go with Three to a bar? He knew what a jackass the other man could be so why had he thought this time would be any different. He could’ve gone with Five and Two to look at the apparently, ’Amazing Glowing Fire Fish of Amradi Prime’, something nice and touristy and safe, or safer still stayed on the Raza with Four and carried on reading that new book he’d found about rabbits looking for a new home. But no, he’d let himself be talked into getting a drink with Three.

He knew there’d be trouble as soon as he’d seen Three sidle up to the underdressed, over made-up, red-head seated at the bar. What was it with the guy and red-heads anyway? One had watched as she’d laughed a lot and Three had taken to whispering in her ear a lot. Then trouble had arrived, just as One had known it would, in the shape of her boyfriend who just happened to be some local criminal big-shot who didn’t take too kindly to seeing the love of his life plastered all over some stranger in a bar.

So as usual where Three was involved a fight ensued and they’d both made it out of the bar in one piece by the skin of their teeth. If they’d thought that would be the end of it they couldn’t have been more wrong which was why they were now running around an unknown city in the dark hoping to lose the people doggedly following them and failing miserably.

One had been so caught up in his reminiscing of how they’d got here he was completely taken by surprise when a hand had shot out from an alleyway and grabbed him pulling him into the dark. He found himself unceremoniously shoved up against a wall with Three plastered up against him with his hand over One’s mouth, eyes focussed on the entrance to the alley. 

One was about to protest when he heard the sound of running feet coming closer and instead he tried to shrink back even further into the shadows with Three and he turned his eyes to look towards the street as well. Their pursuers ran past, not sparing a glimpse into the alley way, at least eight of them One counted, and in a moment the sound of their footsteps had faded and all One could hear was Three’s breathing close by his ear, and his own heartbeat thudding in his chest.

Suddenly, Three stepped back releasing his grip on One and removing his hand from One’s mouth. One immediately bent over, his hands on his knees and sucked in a couple of deep breaths, puffed out and pretty sure he didn’t want to run anymore if he didn’t have to. Three clapped a hand on his shoulder and said,

“Come on Pretty Boy no time to waste, we go to the end of this alley and can double back and get to the ship before those morons know they’re chasing shadows.”

Three started jogging down the alley and One sucked in one last big breath and forced his unwilling body into a matching jog until he caught up to the other man.

“How do you know this is the right way?” One asked.

Three glanced at him before replying, “You know me, excellent sense of direction.”

One shook his head but still followed, and somewhere in the back of his head he wondered why he kept doing that where Three was concerned.

“Why do you always have to get into trouble wherever we go?” He asked Three.

At this point Three paused and winked at him replying, “I never could resist something nice and limber”.

 

Part 2 – Better Out Than In.

Five was hungry, her stomach growled rather loudly in agreement with her assessment. She’d skipped breakfast and had spent more hours exploring the vents than she’d realised and now it was a little past lunchtime. She made her way to the mess hall and was approaching the door when it suddenly opened and One came rushing out. He stopped by her and blew out the breath he’d been holding and sucked in a deep breath, then turning back towards the room he pointed his arm and spluttered,

“You...you...are disgusting!”

Then without even looking at Five he hurried away towards the crew’s quarters.

Puzzled Five walked towards the mess and through the open door she saw Three happily munching his way through a mealworm burger, he seemed to like them and had insisted they picked some up on their last provisions run. Three was facing the now open door and Five could see One’s unfinished meal still on the table opposite him.

She was just about to enter the room when it hit her like a brick wall made out of stink. Putting her hand up to cover her nose and mouth Five took a few steps back. Three just grinned at her around a mouthful of mealworms, swallowing it down he said,

“Love the burgers, but they make me gassy. But,” he said with a shrug,” better out than in.”

Five turned away and followed One towards the crew’s quarters, she had some of the green food bars stashed in her room maybe she’d see if he wanted to share some with her.

 

Part 3 – Now I’m Going to Have to Carry Your Sorry Arse.

“No wonder the security on this side of the facility is sparse you need to be a bloody goat to use these paths.” Three grumbled from up ahead.

One had to agree the path was narrow, with loose moss covered rocks, which made it easy to slip and stumble. On their right was a sheer rock face and to their left a river which was apparently usually quite calm and slow moving but, the Android had informed them, an unexpected warm spell had melted the mountain snows early and it was now swollen and fast flowing due to the icy melt water.

In between him and Three, Five seemed to be having a lot less trouble with the slippery, narrow path and seemed to trot along as nimble as could be, as his foot slipped out from under him again One envied her. While scouting out the facility ahead of a little breaking and entering the day before Two and Four had been captured and they were sneaking in to the rescue them. Five was going to get them through the locked doors and take the security system down while he and Three found the others and freed them. This had seemed a good way of slipping in unnoticed but now he wasn’t so sure.

At that moment Five actually lost her footing and lurched towards the river. Acting on instinct One stepped forward a little between her and the river below and pushed her away from the edge and towards the rock face. As he did so he came too close to the edge and the shift in his weight as he pushed Five away meant that the loose rocks at the path’s edge shifted and fell away into the river below. One felt himself slipping backwards on his way to join them and frantically grabbed at empty air. For a split second his fingers came into contact with Three’s as the older man reached for him, trying to stop him from falling. One felt Three’s fingers slide through his and he barely had time to register the fact he was falling before he hit the freezing torrent and all the breath was stolen from his lungs by the shock of the icy water surrounding him.

This was probably the worst moment ever to discover that he couldn’t swim but there it was, he’d hoped some of the ‘muscle memory’ Two had talked about would kick in but instead he floundered and thrashed about in the river being carried along with no control over anything it seemed. He kept being dragged down under the water before managing to struggle his way to the surface long enough to take a breath of air before being dragged under again. The water was deep and full of currents that seemed to grab and pull at him each trying to possess him, each trying to keep him.

There were rocks under the water’s surface and he kept being bounced off them. A powerful current reached out and snatched at him, pulling him under before another current swirled by and grabbed at him sucking his body along with it, except his right foot snagged itself between two rocks and he was momentarily stuck, being pulled one way and then the other. The newest current won the tug-of-war and wrenched him free, ripping his foot from where it was stuck. One felt his ankle snap, the pain lancing through him making him gasp, swallowing water as he managed to fight his way back to the surface.

He only caught glimpses of the river banks as he was carried along. One moment under water, sounds muted, light dimmed and then he’d be thrust up to the surface, tumbling, the roar of the river filling his ears, trees, sky, rocks, a jumble flying passed.

One could feel his strength being sapped. The water was so cold he was losing all sensation in his body, which considering the agony radiating from his right ankle wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. His clothes were soaked through and seemed so heavy, pulling him under, maybe he should have tried to shrug off his jacket or lose the gun strapped to his thigh he thought, but the cold had stolen away his ability to move his limbs and he knew it was too late for that now. 

One took a deep breath before being pulled down beneath the water’s surface and felt his head strike a rock as he began to sink. His eyes open he stared up through the water, the bright surface a world away and fading. Red filled his vision and he knew his head was bleeding. He sank deeper and he could hear the roar of his oxygen starved blood in his ears and his lungs felt as if they were going to explode. Every atom in his body was screaming at him for life, for air, for him to breathe. As he felt his vision greying out at the edges he gave in to the demands of his body and opened his mouth and breathed. Water, not air, rushed down his throat into his stomach and lungs and he felt himself convulse as his body tried to expel the liquid but couldn’t. One knew he’d lost the fight and prepared to surrender himself to the cold and the dark when he felt something grab him and haul him to the surface, noise and blinding light assaulting his senses, making him recoil.

He hit something hard and knew he should do something, he should breathe but he couldn’t his lungs were full of water. Something pushed on his back, once, twice, three times, and suddenly it seemed as if he was puking half the river out of his mouth and nose. 

“Breathe you idiot, breathe.” A voice shouted at him, Three shouted at him he realised.

One tried to obey but instead his body convulsed again and more water gushed out of him and then, finally, he gasped in oxygen.

“Again, again,” Three’s voice commanded and One obeyed.

One felt Three rubbing his back as he lay gasping for breath, for life.

“I suppose now I’m going to have to carry your sorry arse”. Three griped, as he carried on rubbing his hand in circles on One’s back.

 

Part 4 – I Didn’t Know You Cared.

One could understand now why Five had pushed and pushed to be thought of as a full member of the crew, a full member of the team. Being left behind and having nothing to do but wait sucked. One had been left behind on the Raza because of his stupid ankle. He was still limping, although he refused to use the crutches anymore, and apparently he would be ‘a liability’ as Two had so diplomatically put it.

He’d actually been pretty ill after his near-death experience in the river. Both him and Three were hypothermic by the time they got back to the ship, as Three had, according to Five, raced back down the pathway not seeming to care if it was narrow and dangerous and then ran along the river bank until the river widened and slowed and had dived in and hauled One out half-dead. Two and Four having, of course, rescued themselves by this time had found the Marauder and the Android and were about to set off to look for them. One had been in the freezing water longer and didn’t have the chance to warm up a little, that Three had, by having to carry an unconscious crew mate. So his hypothermia had been worse, coupled with a concussion and badly broken ankle, which was followed by two days of delirium caused by a lung infection because of the near drowning. All told he’d spent a week in the infirmary.

It was those two days he couldn’t remember, when he’d been burning up with fever and babbling, that worried One. Five had been with him when his fever had broken and he’d finally known where he was when he opened his eyes. As she’d fed him ice-chips and they’d waited for the rest of the crew to come and see he was himself again, she’d told him they’d all taken turns sitting with him, even Three she’d added. When he’d asked her what he’d babbled about Five had shrugged and said that a lot of it had made no sense and anything else seemed to be focused on the time around Six’s betrayal and his experience in the river,

“Lots about not being able to breathe,” Five had told him with a shudder, before adding, “Don’t worry you didn’t say anything embarrassing, at least not while I was here.”

Then she’d hugged him and told him she was happy he was himself again.

One couldn’t help but worry though. What if he had said something embarrassing when someone else was there, someone like Three. He’d never hear the end of it.  
However, Three didn’t particularly say anything to him, but every now and then One felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle and he’d turn to find Three staring at him. When he’d meet Three’s eyes the other man would look away. So for weeks now One had not wanted to hear Three speak in case he told everyone some embarrassing secret of his. Now though he’d do anything to hear Three’s voice.

The rest of the crew were on the planet below carrying out a theft. Seemed a nightclub was being used as a front by some criminals who were storing stolen goods in the back offices. A break-in at some corporate type’s home had got them some plans that Mikkei Combine were pretty desperate to get back. 

Everyone, except for him of course, had a job. Five was going to get the back entrance open without triggering the alarm. Two would walk in the front door as a customer, in an outfit that had made One’s mouth go dry and Three had risked a wolf-whistle. She would get to the back rooms, crack the safe using Five’s instructions, get the plans and use the open back door to drop them in the alleyway behind the club. Then she would go back into the main area of the club and leave by the front entrance. Four would pick up the plans and drop them at the rendezvous where Three was waiting. Three would pick up the payment the Mikkei operative would leave when they picked up the plans. Each separate, none being tied to the other, the majority free to step in if one needed rescuing.

Everybody was supposed to check in with the others when their part was done. Their communications picked up by the Marauder and One had asked the Android to have that patched through to the Raza so he could at least hear that everyone was safe. It had worker well until now, Three hadn’t checked in. He was well overdue and the silence was driving One nuts. What if it had been a double-cross, what if Three had been captured or worse? Time ticked by with no word as One hobbled from one side of the bridge to the other being watched silently by the Android.

Suddenly Two’s voice broke the heavy silence,

“Raza this is Marauder we’re on our way back.”

That was it. No update, no reassurance that Three was on board and okay.

“Marauder this is Raza, what about Three is he safe?” One had to ask.

Instead of Two answering straight away there was more torturous silence which probably lasted seconds but seemed, to One, to stretch on for minutes. What if Two had bad news? Then a familiar voice replied,

“I’m fine Pretty Boy, I didn’t know you cared.”

Only then did One realise he’d been holding his breath. As he drew in a long, slightly shaky breath he wondered why Three had sounded so pissed off.

 

Part 5 – Let’s Do That Again.

It was a few days after the Mikkei job and One had gone from being worried about Three right back to being suspicious of him. The side-ways looks were still there but accompanied by a frown and One was sure something was brewing.

The crew had gathered for lunch and it was turning into a very subdued affair. Three was unusually quiet and One was tense thinking Three was going to spill his guts about whatever he’d rambled on about while delirious, because he was sure there was something, he was afraid there was something. 

It was Two who asked Three,

“Are you okay, you’re not usually this quiet?”

Three grunted and pushed his tray away, half the food on it untouched, he glanced quickly at One before replying,

“Ain’t got nothing to say, seems the best way on this ship.”

Then after getting up he walked out.

One couldn’t stand it. That last remark had obviously been directed at him and as the others all turned to him he knew everyone else knew it too. Knowing he needed to fix whatever this was One abandoned his lunch and hurried after Three as quickly as he could.

It wasn’t easy catching up to Three who was making his way to his quarters. One’s ankle was hurting like a son-of-a-bitch by the time he caught sight of Three’s back.

“Hey!” He shouted, relieved when the other man stopped.

Three paused for a moment and then turned around to face One who hobbled a couple of steps closer before asking,

“What is this all about?”

Three stared at him and for a moment One thought he was just going to turn and walk away without answering. Instead he said,

“You never even said ‘thank-you’”

“What?” One asked, confused.

“I jump into a freezing river, drag you up from the bottom of that river, bring you back to life, carry you all the way back to the Marauder, and you don’t even thank me. In fact you go out of your way to avoid me, I just can’t win with you, you...”

Three stopped abruptly and turning away he hurried off down the corridor leaving a confused One behind him.

One knew he had to get to the bottom of this and he felt guilty because Three was right he hadn’t thanked him for saving his life, he’d been too busy being paranoid. Making up his mind One followed Three determined to get this sorted out now. 

When he got to Three’s quarters he was surprised to find the door open, obviously Three had been expecting him to follow. As he entered the room the door slid shut behind him and he saw Three sitting at a table stripping down one of his precious guns, paying him no attention at all.

Neither man spoke and the silence dragged on making One feel more and more uncomfortable by the moment until he blurted out,

“Thank you. I know I should’ve said that before now but I really am grateful to you for saving my life and the carrying thing and...stuff.” He ended, wincing at how lame it sounded even to himself.

Three didn’t react for a moment and then slowly he put the gun parts down and stood up. One wasn’t sure what he was going to do and for a moment wondered if Three was going to punch him, but the older man didn’t approach. Looking at One he said,

“You have no idea do you?”

One searched Three’s face for a clue before having to shrug because Three was right he really did have ‘no idea’.

Three stepped out from behind the table but came no closer. Taking a breath he looked into One’s face before continuing,

“You have no idea how hard it was for me thinking you were dead. I was a hair’s breadth away from grabbing your hand and you literally slipped through my fingers. Chasing you down that river bank I could see you couldn’t swim and every time you went under I didn’t think you’d come up again, and then you didn’t. It felt like my heart had stopped. Pulling you out and you weren’t breathing I thought you’d gone, that I’d lost you. But then you started to puke up that water and took a breath and then another, the relief, you’ll never know.

Then you got ill. While The Android tries different antibiotics you just burned up, and I thought I was going to lose you after all. You won’t remember me sitting with you, reading you that stupid pig and spider book you lent me. I had to listen to you remembering that shit from just before Six betrayed us. I had to listen to you thinking I was going to torture you, kill you...I was such an arsehole and I put you through that. 

You know what, I don’t blame you if you avoid me, don’t talk to me, don’t look me in the eye. But you have to know that wasn’t really me, that paranoid dick who couldn’t see the truth. This is really me.”

With that Three walked over to him and taking One’s face in his hands Three leant in and kissed him. One was stunned, taken completely by surprise he froze, until Three’s tongue swept across his lower lip and One moaned low in his throat, relaxing against Three, opening his mouth to him, deepening the kiss. 

One’s head spun and pleasure made his toes curl and his body melted against Three’s warmth. The kiss seemed to go on forever as time slipped away and yet ended far too soon. Three broke the kiss and took a step back, One’s body swayed towards him inexorably drawn to the other man and One had to remember to breathe. 

Three studied One’s face and smiling said,

“Let’s do that again.”

One nodded his consent, not sure he could speak, and stepping forward it was his turn to take Three’s face in his hands and kiss him until Three’s toes curled and time slipped away. 

 

Part 6 – Don’t leave me.

It was either a really lucky shot, or a really unlucky shot depending on your viewpoint. A simple stop on a backwater planet for to drop off some merchandise and pick up their payment had gone well at first and they had been nearly at the Marauder when a voice had called out,

“Corso, you doubled-crossing bastard.” And all Hell had broken lose.

Three had lost count of the number of times simple jobs went south, maybe karma was just being a bitch. No time to try and explain that despite appearances One wasn’t Jace Corso, at least four men were shooting at them from the cover of some nearby rocks and they were standing pretty much out in the open like sitting ducks.

“Cover me!” Two shouted and Three and One nodded as she ran the short distance to the shuttle and getting inside shouted to One to join her while she and Three kept their attackers heads down. 

Relief flooded Three when he heard One’s voice calling to him as the Marauder’s engines came on-line and he wasted no time in sprinting back to the ship running up the ramp at full speed nearly knocking One over in the process and having to do some nifty footwork to keep himself from slamming into the back of Two in the pilot seat.

Turning back to One he watched as the other man slapped a hand down on the door control and the doors began to slide shut, shots pinging harmlessly off the metal, all except for that one lucky/unlucky shot that squeezed through the closing doors and hit One in the lower chest.

The impact didn’t knock One off his feet and he seemed to freeze for a moment and then put his hand down to the wound before looking at his fingers, surprised to see red there. He turned to Three, eyes wide with shock, before his legs gave out on him.

Yelling at Two,

“One’s been hit, step on it!”

Three rushed to One’s side grabbing the med-kit from its storage place on the way. Dropping to his knees Three looked down at One who’s eyes were wide with pain and who reached out and grabbed Three’s hand in a fierce, desperate grip.

Three leant down bringing his face so close to One’s, he could feel One’s ragged, panicked breaths against his skin. Using his free hand he put it against One’s cheek and looking into his eyes he tried to calm him down,

“Look at me, look at me, it’ll be alright, you’re going to be fine. We’re on the way back to the ship and the Android will fix you up like she has before. But I need my hand back so I can check the wound and get a dressing on it, okay.”

One licked his lips and visibly tried to calm his breathing nodding at Three he let go of the other man’s hand,

“It hurts,” he gasped, “It really hurts.

“I know, but the Android will give you all the good drugs soon.”

Three reached down and lifted One’s tee-shirt, which was already wet with blood, Three didn’t know what the bullet had hit inside of One but the wound was bleeding like a bitch. He looked up to see One’s pale face and wide eyes staring at him,

“This is gonna hurt, I’m sorry.” Three said.

Then Three took the dressings he’d grabbed from the med-kit and pressed down hard on the wound, trying to slow the bleeding. One squirmed under his hands and couldn’t stop himself from crying out in pain, the sound cut Three to his bones but he clenched his jaw and forced himself to press harder.

It wasn’t long before the dressings were heavy and soaked through with One’s blood and Three’s hands were glistening red. No matter how hard he tried to keep One’s blood inside him it just kept oozing out of him. Three could feel that he was now kneeling in a growing puddle of One’s blood. One reached out and grabbed Three’s left hand where it was pressed down on the saturated dressings and held on. His breath came in small gasps and he said,

“It’s alright, it doesn’t hurt so bad now.” Then he added, “I’m sorry,” as his eyes began to flutter shut.

“No!” Three shouted. “Don’t you dare fucking die.”

But as he watched One’s eyes closed and with a sigh the rise and fall of his chest ceased, the body under Three’s hands suddenly relaxing, the life leaving it.  
Letting go of the dressings Three reached up a bloody hand pressing it against One’s still warm cheek he leant down, his forehead against the younger man’s and whispered,

“Don’t leave me.”

Three didn’t hear the Marauder dock and he didn’t resist when hands pulled him away from One’s body and One was taken away. He didn’t react to any of it and neither did he follow the others as they gave up trying to make him respond and rushed to follow the funeral procession, rushed to follow One’s body.

Eventually he looked down at his hands where he had them clutched into fists and saw the blood on them had dried and as he flexed his hands it came away in red flakes. He looked towards where One had lain and saw the discarded blood soaked dressings and footprints in the drying blood.

Getting up Three moved on autopilot and made his way to his quarters. He went straight into the bathroom striping off his clothes he shoved them into the waste disposal not wanting to ever wear them again. In the shower he stood under the water and had it as hot as he could stand, watching as it swirled away down the drain, first red, then pink, then clear. He dressed without caring what he wore and then stood in the middle of the room unsure what to do next, feeling numb.

Looking around the room he saw traces of One. The jacket discarded on the couch, the thick book with rabbits on the cover sitting next to the bed, a page marked a third of the way through with one of the fine brushes he used to clean his guns. Three knew if he walked over to the bed and picked up the pillow if he held it to his face he’d smell One and he felt himself begin to crack.

Suddenly, Five burst through the door of his quarters, Three only now realising he’d never bothered to close it earlier. She seemed to be bursting with too much energy, more so then usual.

“Two says you need to come to the infirmary to see One.” She said.

Three stared at her for a moment before shaking his head and replying,

“No, no I can’t see him like that.”

Five pouted for a moment before saying,

“I know it’s hard, all those machines and all, but...”

“Machines, what machines?” Three asked, hope flaring in his chest but he didn’t dare believe it.

“The life support...” Five replied.

Three heard no more as he took off for the infirmary at a run.

Dashing through the doors he found Two standing next to the bed that held One. One who was hooked up to lots and whirring, beeping machines, one who had a tube down his throat breathing for him, One who the monitors showed had a heart beat. Two stood back as Three rushed to One’s side unable to believe he was alive.

“The Android was able to resuscitate him. She removed the bullet and repaired the damage but she says it’s touch and go, the next 48 hours will tell if he makes it.”

Three nodded unable to speak and Two reached out and briefly squeezed his shoulder before she left.

Alone with One, Three looked down at him, his face too pale, his chest rising and falling to the regular mechanical rhythm of the machine breathing for him and took hold of his hand. The flesh was warm, not the chill of death but the warmth of life, and Three squeezed One’s fingers hoping the other man could feel him there and that he could hear him when he said,

“Don’t leave me.”

 

Author’s note – One would like Watership Down 


End file.
